Puent awarded Area Director’s Award for Excellence

By Ken Luchterhand



Ruth Puent knew at an early age that she would be involved with improving people’s health.

She was always interested in the health field. Having grown up in a large family, with many brothers and sisters, her parents and grandparents, she cared for their illnesses, plus tended to the sick and injured animals she came across. 

If fact, when she was in elementary school, the nurse would ask her to help with student immunizations. She would calm down the students and get them ready for their shots.

“'You have a way with people. You should become a nurse,’” Puent said about what the school nurse told her.

Because of that dedication to improving people’s lives, Puent was awarded the Area Director’s Award for Excellence by the Indian Health Service.
She was presented with the award at the Indian Health Service conference in Bemidji, Minnesota, in October.

A celebratory luncheon was held in her honor on October 28 at the Ho-Chunk Nation Clinic conference room. 

Ruth was hired as Community Health Representative for the Ho-Chunk Nation and started her job on December 1, 1980, and was based in La Crosse, where she lived.

“I wore a lot of hats over the years,” she said. “When I first started, I completed a three-week basic training for many things, such as alcoholism, mental health, drug addiction, how to give a speech, and medical terminology. When I began my job, it was the only program that would go into the people’s homes and give services.”

When she started the first meeting was La Crosse to Port Edwards as a Community Health Officer. She didn’t know what to expect. Ona Garvin was the director. There was only Contract Health Services, Food Distribution and the CHR programs, with about 25 people employed at the time.

Now the program has evolved and they are doing more health promotion, disease prevention and activities, monitoring home visits and transportation for the medically needy, WIC clinics and monitor people with hypertension and diabetes.

Over the years, a lot of directors were in change of the program. Then, in 1990, she decided to leave the Nation for other opportunities.

“When I left, the program was in turmoil. I didn’t care where it was heading,” she said. “I took a job as an inspector for a plastic company.”
Even when she had a different job, people would approach her because of her expertise in health.

“People were still calling me at home. They were sick and wondering what to do. They were calling me to get the right assistance.

In 1994, she decided to come back to the Ho-Chunk Nation when the small clinic was built and it began treating patients and she has been with the Nation ever since.

In regards to the award, she said that she comes to work every day and is involved with so many things, such as policies and procedures.

Ruth was gone from work for about three months due to heart bypass surgery. But when she came back, she learned that her supervisor and co-workers had nominated her for the award and that she had won.

“I don’t think it’s anything I’d win and award for,” she said. “I’m pleased that so many people think of me that way. It was a nice surprise.”
Ho-Chunk Nation Environmental Health Director Carol Rollins nominated Puent for the award. It her nomination papers, she wrote:
“Ruth Puent has managed the Community Health Representative (CHR) Program for a total of 24 years for the Ho-Chunk Nation. She has provided guidance to her CHRs and always made sure her program was in compliance with recognized guidelines. She established the first Policies and Procedures for her program and continues to update and implement them today. Her work ethic is passed on to her staff by teaching them to reach out to the community members and help guide them toward a healthier lifestyle.”

Providing services to all the tribal members in the 15 county service delivery area was one of the challenges that Ruth faced, plus the difficulty of supervising staff that was located two to three hours away, Rollins wrote.

“Ruth met these challenges and was willing to lend a helping hand to staff when they needed it. She often was faced with staff shortages, limited funding, and a lack of fleet vehicles to deliver services. She met these challenges and advocated for program needs with the Health Director and sometimes the Tribal Legislators,” Rollins said. “Her program staff continues to be recognized as the key personnel in the satellite health offices to getting in touch with the local community that they serve.”

In addition to managing the CHR Program. Ruth was very generous in sharing her time and her leadership skills. She serves on many committees within the Health Department and is very willing to take on the extra duties associated with these groups. She leads the Policies and Procedures Committee for the Community Health programs, taking time to review all the Policies and Procedures from all the programs and verify their format is correct, according to Rollins.

She is an active member of the Injury Prevention Committee, the Health Accreditation Board, the Cancer Task Force, the Well Child Committee and the Public Health Accreditation Committee. She also served on the Bemidji Are HIS Team to update the RPMS System for data entry for the CHR Program.
Ruth was one of the founders of the “Strong in Body and Spirit” program many years ago, which has since been absorbed by the Diabetes Management Program to become the Lifestyles Balance Program.

Ruth often says that she likes to format and organize materials so we have used her skill to our advantage in the Health Department by giving her the annual reports from all the programs. She combines the pictures and graphs and written narratives to create “The Annual Report to the Indian People.” 
Ruth has been very active in promoting Public Health Accreditation. The Community Health Assessment could not have been accomplished without Ruth and her team. She continues to actively participate in the Health Department’s efforts to become accredited.

“Ruth received the Area Director’s Award for Excellence because she has truly been a leader and advocate for healthy lifestyles and she has taught her staff and co-workers how to serve the Ho-Chunk people,” Rollins said.



Home